Parallels
by Mistress Elysia
Summary: Things are never easy on Atlantis, but when a strangely familiar woman suddenly appears from nowhere during the routine investigation of some new Ancient technology, the whole team know that they're in for some trouble, sooner or later... R&R most welcome
1. Chapter 1

_Not sure how this is going to turn out… it is actually based on a very weird 'falling asleep' dream that I had a few nights ago and has been bugging me ever since, so I know it's worth writing down on some kind of level! Warning: I envision this getting a little silly - age rating may also rise as time goes by!_

Arrivals

"So… what does it do, exactly?"

Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard craned his neck forwards a little over his team-mate's shoulder to get a better look at the bewildering array of transparent crystal discs and blinking lights upon the control panel before them, at once both curious and bored.

Closing his eyes in blatant irritation for a second, Dr. Rodney McKay shot Sheppard a withering look before refocusing his attention back to the control panel in front of him.

"As far as I know, it could be an Ancient Coke machine, something for controlling the population of flies in the area or a new and entirely novel way of raining down fiery death from above," he snapped. "I won't be able to find out until I'm actually left alone to do what I am supposed to be doing – upon your orders, I hasten to add."

"Oh. Sorry…" Sheppard tried his best to sound contrite, the smirk that played along his lips betraying him. "I'll just leave you to it, huh?"

"Oh, no, please feel free to continue aggravating me on every single level known to man, I insist!" Rodney shot back, picking up his tablet from his makeshift workbench – once a lowly tree stump - before sublimating his annoyance and directing his attention once more to the job in hand. "3rd line configured… output…_what_?! Nothing?! Oh, come on!"

Stifling a grin, Sheppard left Rodney to his own devices, knowing that for all his outward aggression, he was never happier than when working through near insurmountable problems. Resting a hand on the stock of his P90, he sauntered over to the exotic looking woman who was watching them both with a good naturedly defeated air of one who had seen that particular scenario play out more times than she would care to admit to.

"You should not tease him so," Teyla chided quietly with a small smile of her own. "It is rare for him to let us down."

"I know… but sometimes, it's damn near the only hobby I have," John grinned before looking over his shoulder. "Where's Ronon?"

"Ronon has gone to 'secure the perimeter' again," Teyla answered, a slight note of a sigh edging her voice.

John nodded in rueful realisation. "He's bored too, huh?"

At that, Teyla just smiled and readjusted the grip on her own gun, knowing she did not have to answer; if there was one thing her usually unpredictable Satedan team-mate could be relied upon, it was that he found just sitting and waiting an almost intolerable chore.

Nodding wearily, Sheppard tapped the earpiece attached to his left ear. "Ronon, buddy – you there?"

There was moment's silence before a familiar growling voice answered.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Where are you?"

"Nearby. Just checking things out."

"You shouldn't wander off on your own, you know." Sheppard allowed a slightly reproving hint to enter his voice, just to remind the Satedan that he couldn't always wander off whenever he wanted, especially without informing him first. "Make your way back."

Ronon said nothing, but John thought he caught the edge of a rather world-weary sigh.

"Do I need to make it an order?"

"No…" Ronon answered after another pause, his tone so much like a chastised schoolboy that John couldn't help but smile.

"Good. See you shortly. Sheppard out."

The colonel turned his attention back to Teyla, who was in turn watching McKay. The physicist was now frowning, muttering what was undoubtedly a choice selection of expletives under his breath whilst he stabbed viciously at the tablet he was carrying with one finger. Surveying the scene, John couldn't help but be impressed once again by what they had discovered; undoubtedly Ancient in design, the roof of the construct had long been lost to the elements, but the bizarrely constructed machine that had been housed within it was remarkably well preserved, probably because it was set into an alcove in the back wall and therefore on the whole quite well protected. There was a circular structure upon the floor, not unlike a depiction of the Stargate, with six little hexagonal columns that seemingly had the ability to move spaced at regular intervals around it – exactly why, however, the team was largely unsure. At the moment, they were treating it with caution; new technology, whilst exciting and definitely welcome, always seemed to come with a price of some kind, and after some of their experiments in recent months had resulted in the loss of three quarters of a solar system (although Rodney would have argued that it was actually five sixths), they were feeling understandably careful.

_The only problem with 'careful' _John mused to himself as he continued to watch McKay _is that sometimes it is just so damn boring…_

"He's still working on that same section?" came a disgruntled question from John's left, making him jump just a little bit.

"Damn it, Ronon –don't sneak up like that," Sheppard scolded, looking up at the tall Satedan; for such a big man, he could move like a cat when he wanted to, and John for one sometimes found it a little unnerving. "Yeah… same bit. I wonder if this thing's been exposed to the weather for too long… I know the Ancients built things to last, but this has been out here for a long time."

With a nod, Ronon slouched against the nearest pillar. "Nothing to cause any concern near here… why don't we just get a science team to deal with this?"

"Because you know as well as I do that Rodney won't hand this over to anyone else if there's a chance he can figure out what it does first. Imagine if we brought Zelenka in and he figured out what McKay can't…"

To that, Ronon said nothing, just rolled his eyes and nodded knowingly.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding!" Rodney exploded, yelling at his tablet. "I configured it exactly the way you wanted me to… what's wrong with you?!"

At this new outburst, Teyla shot a look back to her other two team-mates and then stepped forward. "Maybe we should leave this for now, Rodney; you have been it this for a very long time. Maybe if you took a break, got some rest and came back to it with a fresh mind…"

McKay responded with a look of cynical disbelief upon his face. "Teyla, at least _try _to remember who you're talking to… no, the problem is somewhere else… the usual algorithms aren't working, and there must be a reason for that – maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong perspective…" the scientist frowned again and almost immediately excluded the Athosian from his little personal world once again. "Maybe I should be calculating that in hex rather than binary and cross referencing it from the beta section…"

Shaking her head in bemused defeat, Teyla shrugged her shoulders and stepped back so that she was standing with John and Ronon once more. Seeing her defeated look, Sheppard offered her a wry smile.

"I dunno about you guys… Time to pitch some kind of camp, maybe? I've got a feeling we're going to be here a while…"

-------------------

_It felt as if she had been running for hours, but the truth was it hadn't been nearly half that time. She slapped the headpiece that was attached to her right ear once again, hoping against all hope to raise at least one of her team mates; for any hint that they might still be alive…_

"_Telyn!" she hissed. "Do you copy? Are you there?!"_

"_I am. Where are you? Are you..."_

_At the reply, she almost stumbled in relief. _

"_Sweet merciful... I'm fine. Work your way back to the gate; don't wait for me. I'm leading it away – just take Rayna and Robert and get the hell out of here! I'm counting on you to warn Elliot!"_

"_Joss…"_

"_That's an order, Telyn! Head for the gate – now! Sheppard out."_

_She then unceremoniously cut the transmission before her team-mate had any chance to argue with her. _

_She knew the Sidhe was chasing her; lowering her goggles, she scanned the area using infra red, trying to detect any heat signatures. Ever since the Sidhe had developed cloaking technology of their own, all of their missions had been like playing a game of Russian roulette – you simply didn't know where one would pop up next…_

_There was a rustling to the right of her; snapping her head round, she just caught the glimpse of a heat signature flanking her before ducking down behind a boulder. Cursing silently under her breath, she hefted her NJ34 in front of her and, keeping low, ran forwards again, back towards the site they had been working on. Robert had only recently figured out how to get the damn thing working – superficially, it resembled the Galaxygate, if the gate had been inlaid into the floor, surrounded by six curiously shaped hexagonal columns. They had spent literally days trying to figure out exactly how to manipulate the crystals to power the thing up, and even now, they only had a rudimentary idea of what the whole contraption was capable of; still, if that was the way the Precursors had escaped, then maybe there was a chance they might still be around… and maybe, just maybe, they could seek help from them._

_This was the main reason why she now headed back – they had their orders. The site had to be protected at all costs…had to be shut down before the Sidhe could get hold of it. The others had been cut off from her, so she had ordered them back to Elliot so that they could warn him and keep Lemuria safe, at least for the meantime. _

_Suddenly, something cut in front of her; snapping up her NJ34, she quickly squeezed off two three round bursts in rapid succession, hoping to at least clip whatever it had been before heading back to the Precursor's machine, her heart in her mouth. _

_Slowing to a cautious walk, she scrutinised the area before moving out in the open; Robert's portable computer was still there, taking readings, the rings inlaid into the ground still shimmering in a rather unearthly, disconcerting way. Knowing that it was now or never, she dashed forwards, hand outstretched, ready to grab the computer and run. _

_She never saw the Sidhe; it lunged out of the tree line to her left, still cloaked, barrelling her over bodily, obviously thinking it was about to make an easy kill. What it obviously hadn't considered was the Precursor machine. _

_Knowing that she had to shut down the whole edifice one way or another, Joss aimed her NJ34 at the computer and squeezed off a shot; upon hearing the satisfactory pop and fizz of the computer's terminals blowing out as the bullet hit, she closed her eyes with a sigh of relief; even if this was her time to die, she had at least stopped the Sidhe from getting their hands on anything important. _

_Death didn't come from the Sidhe, though; the momentum of the attack had meant that they were now rolling upon the ground, dangerously close to the still-shimmering ring of the Precursors – so much like the Galaxygate, and yet so different, it began to waver and distort, the ground within in seeming to ripple and roil. Joss, however, simply didn't notice; she was too busy wrestling with the Sidhe's near-invisible feeding hand, trying to stop it from slapping it upon her chest and taking its fill. Before either she or the Sidhe could stop, they had rolled into the shimmering circumference of the Precursor ring, and with an ear-splitting pop, both Sidhe and woman disappeared._

-----------------------

It was as much of a surprise to Rodney as to any of them when the Ancient machine seemingly decided to turn itself on.

The physicist had chosen at last to take a break; he had needed coffee and a snack to boost his flagging energy levels, and since all the others were doing was standing idly around watching him slog away, he had demanded (and quite rightfully so, in his opinion) that they heat some water for him. After Ronon had glowered at him, Rodney then asked a little more nicely (well, in McKay's book, it always paid to be nice to a man who could rip both your arms off without raising a sweat), they had settled for a quick break, the scientist giving them a run down of his progress.

"So.., what you're basically saying is that you don't have a clue what it does, how to turn it on or even if it is any use to us whatsoever?" Sheppard deadpanned after his report. "Gee, Rodney – now I know why they pay you the big bucks."

"Not helping, Sheppard," Rodney snapped back, more to cover up his own acute awareness that, as much as it pained him to admit it even in his own mind, in some ways the colonel was actually right. "I'm sure I'm on the right track – I just need…"

He trailed off as the columns that surrounded the inlaid rings sank into the ground as one.

"Holy sh…" breathed Rodney, any trace of former arrogance now having fled.

"Did you do that?" asked Ronon, unholstering his particle magnum and quickly standing up, eying the rings as they began to shimmer unnervingly.

"Because I have so perfected the art of telekinesis in my short time sitting here, haven't I, Ronon? What do you think?" Rodney snapped back, his usual acerbic edge firmly back in place as he also got to his feet and made his way over to his tablet.

"Rodney… I do not think that is possibly very wise," cut in Teyla, her P90 in front of her, ready to take down anything that she deemed even slightly hostile. "Maybe we should wait a moment…"

"Teyla's right…" Sheppard joined it, knowing that when it came to the pursuit of knowledge, McKay could be the most reckless supposed hypochondriac and self-preservationist he knew.

"Yes, yes, not listening…" Rodney dismissed them all by flapping his hands in their general direction and resolutely made his way towards his tablet.

Shaking his head in slight exasperation, Sheppard glanced at his other two team-mates. "Cover us. I'll follow Rodney."

Both Teyla and Ronon just nodded in silent agreement.

As he drew closer to his tablet, Rodney's eyes widened in frank surprise; where it had once stubbornly refused to allow him to access any part of the structure's database, it was now simply alight with strange coordinates and data strings. This surprise was quickly followed by a feeling of absolute dismay as he then noticed the sharp, acrid stench of frying computer components; swearing, he tried to run forwards to save his terminal, only to be stopped by a heavy hand upon his shoulder.

"What the… Sheppard, what are you doing?! I need to get to it… it's going to blow!"

"It's already blown," Sheppard answered, his expression grave. "There's nothing you can do about the tablet; no point risking it all for a broken computer."

"What?! I need to get it – see what I can glean from it!" He lunged forward again, but Sheppard's hand was still on his shoulder.

"McKay, don't be an idiot! Just _leave it_! Look!"

Tearing his attention from his fried computer terminal, Rodney didn't know whether to punch Sheppard or cry; his attention, however, was totally diverted as soon as he saw what Sheppard had been trying to warn him of.

The once-static ring that was inlaid into the ground in front of the terminal now shimmered in a strange, not-quite-obeying-the–known-laws-of-physics kind of way. It turned out that the ring wasn't solid at all – it was actually comprised of three rings, each one fitting neatly inside the other. The shimmering effect was caused as they rippled against – and in some cases, actually through – each other, like rapidly spinning coins just before they came to a standstill. The effect was vaguely hypnotic, and McKay found himself taking an involuntary step forward to take a closer look before he remembered himself and stopped. Slowly, the shimmering, rippling effect crawled across the ground that the rings encompassed, making the entire area undulate and bubble. For a moment, the more emotionally detached, scientific part of Rodney's mind was reminded of the event horizon of the Stargate once it had been activated, just without the kawoosh… these thoughts were abruptly brought to a swift conclusion, however, when the surface of the ground apparently bounced and a figure all of a sudden materialised in the centre of the ring.

It was laying upon the ground, apparently struggling with something it couldn't see. Before he could register entirely what was going on, though, there was a huge bang from the direction of the Ancient terminal – his tablet, having overheated to a ridiculous degree, had decided to completely give up the ghost and simply explode. Ducking instinctively with a small yelp, Rodney heard another, rather more familiar and decidedly more mechanical bang; that of Ronon's particle magnum.

"Hey! HEY!!" the scientist shouted, almost glad to have something else to focus on rather than the figure now laying on the ground in the centre of the ring. "What the hell did you do that for, Luddite?!"

He was not answered, though, simply because all of his team-mates' attention was now firmly fixed upon the person on the ground in front of them.

----------------------

It was a weird sensation, and completely unlike any kind of gate travel she had experienced before; rather than the now-familiar wormhole, there had been utter blackness – complete sensory deprivation. She hadn't even felt herself hit the ground – if she had indeed hit the ground – until she was lying upon it; it was simply a case of one moment it wasn't there, then it was. Still she struggled with the Sidhe before that weight inexplicably was relieved, until she wasn't sure whether the Sidhe had jumped up off her or had been a figment of her imagination entirely.

She lay there for a moment, catching her breath with her eyes closed, trying to still the roiling feeling in her stomach before attempting to sit up; when she opened them, she found herself literally staring down the barrel of a gun. Her breath caught in her throat as she leaned back, trying to focus upon the person holding the pistol, but failing miserably since the sunlight behind them obscured their features; her curiosity was then heralded by another two barrels, this time of much more familiar looking weapons. She blew a slight sigh of relief; the Sidhe didn't have access to Earth weaponry – at least as far as she knew – and so it figured that she had obviously surprised one of her own teams. With a slightly crooked smile, she pushed a lock of her own black hair out of her eyes and raised her hands. "It's okay… you can stand down. It's only me."

"It's only who?" shot back a suspicious, growling voice that she did not recognise.

"Uh… okay… wrong number, obviously." She peered back up at the three people holding guns. "Who are you?"

"The ones holding a weapon," shot back the largest of the three, his tone oozing menace. "Who are you?"

_Okay… not good…_

"Oh, crap…" sighed Lieutenant Colonel Jocelyn Sheppard with feeling and she raised her hands in surrender. "This is just not my day…"


	2. Chapter 2

Introductions

For a long moment, no one said anything. Even Rodney, usually one of life's babblers, was caught off guard. Dumbfounded, John spent a moment to study the woman's features; her long, dark hair was caught in a french braid from which a few, messy curls had escaped; her eyes a clear shade of blue framed by thick, black lashes; her nose long and almost aquiline in structure… even her ears were the same, slightly odd shape his were. Eventually, he managed to gather hits wits enough to lower his P90 a fraction and lean in closer to the strange – and even he had to admit, strangely familiar – woman on the ground in front of them.

"What did you say?"

"I said that my name is Lieutenant Colonel Jocelyn Sheppard and I, err, come in peace?"

Her voice, although a few octaves higher than his, held the same lazy, nearly nasal quality to it; in fact, much to John's dismay, she sounded a little bit like his cousin Kate, only less nagging.

He shook his head again in disbelief.

"Sounds like something lame you'd say…" Rodney commented from the corner of his mouth, his attention rather owlishly fixed upon Jocelyn.

"Shut up, Rodney" John hissed back. "Well… Lieutenant Colonel…" He hesitated over the salutation. "Where have you come from?"

For a moment, the woman's face clouded over, and her whole demeanour closed in on itself before she offered him a lop-sided smile, a gesture than John recognised only to well, mainly because it was something he did all the time when asked questions he didn't particularly want to answer.

"I'm a refugee from Lemuria," the woman replied at last, her smile still in place, but her tone guarded.

"Lemuria?"

It was the woman's turn to narrow her eyes at John.

"Sorry… but do I know you? You look really familiar…"

John glanced around and found Teyla's eyes, looking for support from the wisest member of his team. Seeing his unspoken plea, the Athosian lowered her own P90 and crouched down in front of Jocelyn.

"You say you are from Lemuria?"

"Was from Lemuria," Jocelyn interrupted. "We were attacked. It was destroyed by the Sidhe not long ago."

"… were from Lemuria," Teyla continued smoothly. "And you speak of it as if it should mean something to us… but it does not. Where do you think you are?"

It was Jocelyn's turn to look confused.

"M4X - 852?"

Both John and Teyla glanced briefly at McKay questioningly, whilst Ronon continued to train his gun upon the interloper, his expression grim. When the scientist didn't respond to their searching looks, John nudged Rodney in the ribs with his elbow and gave him a significant look.

"Well? Recognise it?""

"What? Oh… no, it's not one from our database," McKay answered after looking bewildered for a second. "Although this planet is similar: M2G 852."

At that, John and Teyla shared another look.

"Look, I don't know what has happened, but I'm not here to cause trouble… my team and I was looking at some Precursor technology when the Sidhe attacked…"

"There's that weird word again: Shee." Ronon broke in, his voice barely above a growl. "What the hell does it mean?"

It was then Jocelyn's turn to look incredulously up at the Satedan.

"You… you've never come across the Sidhe before?" She shook her head disbelievingly. "Wow; you're lucky. What makes you so special?"

Before Ronon could answer, John interrupted with a question of his own.

"These Sidhe… why are they such a problem?"

Again, Jocelyn looked up at him in total disbelief. "Well, apart from the life sucking, the continual threat to all mankind in the galaxy and the fact that they can cull entire villages in less than a few minutes…What?"

The woman's disbelief turned to bewilderment as the members of the Atlantis team couldn't help but exchange worried looks with each other. Finally, Teyla spoke up.

"We know of these creatures," she said quietly, looking earnestly at Jocelyn. "We call them 'Wraith'. We have lived in their shadow for some time." She looked fleetingly at Ronon, who shared an understanding glance with his team mate. "Some of us for longer than others."

"Wraith?" Jocelyn shook her head. "Never heard them called that before… the Alothians have always called them Sidhe; it's where we got their name from."

At the mention on the name 'Alothian', Teyla paled considerably before standing up. She smiled at Jocelyn before turning her attention to John, who had turned an equally pale shade. "Excuse me… Colonel? May I speak with you?" She gave John a rather significant look.

Sheppard nodded, his face a carefully contrived mask. "Ronon; watch her. Rodney; with me."

The Satedan said nothing in reply and just nodded, adjusting his grip upon his particle magnum, keeping the gun trained on their captive.

---------------------

"This is most strange," Teyla commented once she, Colonel Sheppard and Rodney had moved out of earshot, leaving Ronon to make sure their new potential prisoner didn't try to escape. "It's almost as if she is living a life exactly like ours… but with different names and reference points." She shook her head. "Most strange."

"You don't have to tell me," John added quickly with a slight shudder. "You're not the one experiencing the biggest case of déjà vu you've ever had in your life." He turned back and stole a glance at the woman sitting cross legged at Ronon's feet. "She looks like she could be my sister."

"Wrong: she looks like _you_," corrected Rodney. "She even speaks like you. This is weird…"

"I know!" John said exasperatedly before shrugging his shoulders. "What do you think? How can this have happened?"

Rodney offered John a small facial shrug in response. "Alternative parallel universe. Has to be. The precedent is there… it was getting kind of ridiculous the amount of times the SGC has had to deal with the situation in the past. I suppose we're long overdue our turn…"

"So… what are you saying? She's me?"

"In a way, yes."

"But she's a woman!"

"I can see that."

"How is that even possible?"

"Infinite possibilities – in theory, for every single choice you've ever made, the one you decided not to follow actually happens elsewhere."

"I do know that, you know. I got Donnie Darko. I'm not stupid."

"That's time travel, not alternative realities."

"What?!"

"Donnie Darko; that's time travel."

"I know, but there was that bit when…" Sheppard clenched his fists and closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. "Look, that's not important now! What's important is that I know all this!"

"Then why are you asking me about it?"

"Well, I never made the choice not to be a woman!"

"So? You might not have, but nature did."

John paused a second and looked to the ground as he allowed that realisation to sink in before he looked back up at Rodney, who was in turn watching Jocelyn.

"Stop that!" he snapped.

"Stop what?!"

"Stop staring at her like that! It's creepy…"

"I'm not staring!"

"You so are. I can almost see the stalks."

"My _what_?!"

"The stalks your eyes are on!"

"Oh… yeah… Well, she's attractive!"

"That's what's creeping me out! By your theory, she's me!"

"Oh. Yes. That is a bit disturbing, isn't it?"

"_Incredibly_."

"Sorry."

John sighed and rubbed his eyes with one hand. "I suppose the question is 'what are we going to do with her?' If she is me from…" John raised a hand and made a vague gesture with it. "- somewhere else, we can't just leave her here…"

Teyla, who had remained quiet during John and Rodney's usual bickering, decided it was her time to speak up.

"That is true; we cannot leave her here. If she is truly Sheppard from another reality, then not only do we have a duty to help her, but more importantly, she also knows as much about Atlantis – or whatever name it goes by in her reality – as we do." She paused for a second to allow that to sink in. "At the moment, she doesn't know who we are, nor her potential connection to us… it might be worthwhile to maintain that level of ignorance." She gave Sheppard a significant look.

"I see your point," John nodded in agreement. "But that still doesn't solve our problem; how do we get her back to Atlantis without her knowing where she is going?"

-------------------

Not moving a muscle, Ronon Dex held his particle magnum steady, pointing it directly at the intruder. It wasn't just because Sheppard had told him to do so; there was something he found slightly disturbing about this woman… something oddly familiar about the lazy, disarming smile she was currently treating him to, coupled with the easy manner in which she sat cross-legged at his feet, her elbows resting upon her knees. She had a weapon clipped to the front of what looked suspiciously like an Earth-designed flak jacket; a weapon that looked similar, but not exactly, like the P90's the rest of his team used.

"You know, you don't have to point that thing at me," she said eventually. "I'm not going to do anything stupid."

At that, Ronon just grunted.

"Not much of a conversationalist, are you? I've got a friend like that. She doesn't talk much either."

The only hint that the tall Satedan gave to Jocelyn that he was actually listening to her was a slight quirk of one eyebrow.

"Okay, I can take a hint." She sighed. "Shut up, Sheppard."

Hearing her refer to herself in the third person caused Ronon to narrow his eyes at her for a fraction of a second; once again, she had called herself 'Sheppard'. Although Ronon was the first to admit that he wasn't much good when it came to deep thinking simply because he preferred action to sitting and thinking, even he could see the eerie similarities between his Commanding Officer and this woman. It wasn't just the fact that they had the same hair and eye colour – they had similar mannerisms, too; everything from the lazy, slightly lopsided smile to the strange feeling that although they both presented a relaxed, almost louche façade to the outside world, they were both wound as tightly as springs inside, ready to act at a moment's notice.

Shifting his weight slightly, he looked over to where the other three members of his team were talking, torn between wishing that he could hear what they were saying and carrying out his duty guarding Jocelyn. Upon hearing and sensing movement, however, he snapped his attention back to his ward, only to find her in the process of standing up.

"Sit down," he growled.

"Easy, big guy. Just want to stretch my legs, that's all. If I sit too long, my knees lock up and it's as painful as hell." She then treated him to another dazzling smile. "Look, I'll put my gun on the ground…" She then made as to reach towards her weapon.

"Don't think so," Ronon replied curtly, stepping forwards. "Don't touch it." He then reached forward with one hand and deftly unclipped the gun from the front of her flak jacket with one practised hand. At that, Jocelyn grinned; although for some reason, it was obvious to the Satedan that she was grinning simply to hide the fact that his actions had angered her somewhat.

"Come on; I don't even know your name, and already you're copping a good feel…I'm not usually this easy, you know: like mother always said, a girl's got nothing if she doesn't have her reputation..."

Ronon said nothing as he laid her weapon on the ground beside himself, still training his particle magnum upon her.

"You really don't give anything away, do you?" Jocelyn asked, her anger giving way to curiosity. "I know there's something wrong; I can see that by your friend's reaction to me… but you… you're a closed book." She scrutinised him through narrowed eyes. "You don't even dress like the other three. Honestly; if I didn't know better, I'd say you were Rayna in male form…"

"Who's Rayna?" Dex asked, despite himself.

Seemingly pleased with herself that she had sparked some kind of response out of the Satedan, Jocelyn smiled again. "She's a member of my team – and a good friend of mine. We've been through a lot together. She used to be one the Sidhe's Hunted…" she trailed off, a slightly guilty look crossing her face. "Uh, probably shouldn't've told you that… I don't know why I did. For some reason, I… Look, just ignore me, okay?"

Ronon said nothing to that little titbit of information, his face as carefully impassive as before. However, deep within his chest, his heart lurched a little: _Another similarity. Okay, she didn't say her friend was a Runner, but by the sounds of it, the Hunted are the same thing… Just who IS this woman? If I didn't know better, I'd say…_

The ex-Runner's train of thought was cut short when he heard Sheppard call his name. Snapping his head round, he saw Teyla making her way over to join him as McKay made his way over to what was left of his laptop, grumbling and muttering under his breath as he went. He then saw Sheppard beckon him over; waiting for Teyla to take over his post, Ronon touched her arm lightly and pulled a slight face, hoping to transmit his unease at this whole situation without words before he made his way over to John.

---------------------

"This is weird," Ronon began as he approached John, glancing over one shoulder to make sure Teyla was all right. "She's just…"

"I know," interrupted John, a slightly pained look on his face. "She's me, okay?"

"Uh, what?"

"Okay, not literally… if McKay is right, then this machine doesn't open wormholes; it literally rips holes in reality and allows transfer between different planes of existence."

"Transfer?"

John surreptitiously indicated towards Jocelyn with one hand. "Her."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh."

Ronon's brows creased for a second. "So… where ever she's from, they managed to activate the machine, and it brought her here."

"Looks like it."

"Why?"

John shrugged his shoulders. "We don't know. Yet. I'm still trying to get my head round the fact that in another reality, I'm a woman."

At that, Dex couldn't help but grin whilst John shot him a decidedly disgruntled look. "Hey, it could be worse; you could have ended up being the equivalent of McKay…"

"Good point, well made," John agreed, an involuntary smirk playing across his lips before he sighed. "Problem is, we've now got to do something with her. We can't leave her here; if she is, well, me, then Teyla says we've got a duty of care towards her. And then there's the matter of what she knows…"

"…whatever you know, she potentially knows."

"Exactly."

Ronon rubbed his beard thoughtfully.

"We can't just load her up in the Jumper and take her back to Atlantis," John continued. "It's a huge security risk, not to mention that Elizabeth would kill me…"

"Why can't we?" Dex interrupted

"What?"

"Load her up into a Jumper."

"Because, even if she is me, I don't particularly want her to know our exact location…"

"That's not an issue though, is it?"

John looked confused for a second. "It's not?"

Ronon hefted his gun with a decidedly evil twinkle in his eyes. "Nope."

"Aww, hell no… you can't go around shooting yourself out of problems, Ronon – remember what Elizabeth said!"

Ronon offered Sheppard a complicated facial shrug. "Dr. Weir's not here."

"Ronon..." said John warningly.

"What? It's not like it'll hurt…"

"Like hell it won't; please remember who you are talking to! You've shot me with that thing more times than I care to count!"

Ronon couldn't help but smirk at that particular comment. "You're fine though, aren't you?"

"As far as we know – I've not tried to have any kids yet, though…"

"Come on, Sheppard – it's the only way that makes sense. I'll stun her, we can blindfold her and take her back to Atlantis."

John gave Ronon a sceptical look. "I don't know…"

"Fine. Come up with a better plan and I'll go with that."

Knowing that - in this instance, anyway - his team mate had the right of it, Sheppard just rolled his eyes and nodded. "Okay…it's what McKay suggested, anyway. Teyla's not too pleased about it, but she's practical. We'll stun first and ask questions later…"

-----------------------------

"I know what's going on." Jocelyn sat back down on the floor and looked up at her new keeper, an exotic-looking woman who bore more than a striking resemblance to someone she knew rather well. "It's all slotting into place now. The Precursors didn't flee to another part of the galaxy; they fled to the same one, only in a different reality."

"The Precursors?" Teyla asked, being careful to maintain a neutral expression. _Oh damn… she's figuring it out for herself. We need to move quickly…_

"People who built the Galaxygates and seeded humans all over the galaxy."

"Oh…"

"Look; come on, I'm not stupid." Jocelyn leaned over towards Teyla; once again, the Athosian was struck by how much she resembled John – if she didn't know better, she would have guessed that Jocelyn was his sister. "I may act all dumb when it suits me, but I've crossed over, haven't I? I'm not blind; I can see that I look like him." She gestured towards John.

"There is a…superficial resemblance, nothing more," said Teyla guardedly.

"No, it's not. I could be related to him, and you know it. You look like Telyn, your scientist looks like Robert and your rottweiler might not look much like Rayna, but he sure sounds and acts like her. Cards on the table - I think this is some kind of… alternative reality. Am I right?"

Jocelyn never got her answer, because at that point, Ronon strode over, his particle magnum in hand; before Teyla could say anything, he squeezed off a shot, stunning the Lieutenant Colonel, causing her to slump sideways. The Satedan then stepped over, picked Jocelyn's unconscious form up easily off the floor and slung her over one shoulder, carefully avoiding Teyla's disapproving gaze.

"Ronon…"she said warningly. "Was there any reason for that?"

"What?" he answered defensively, backing away from her. "Sheppard said to do it..."


	3. Chapter 3

Confined

_As soon as her head had cleared enough to make sense of what was going on around her, she quickly jumped up in order to survey her surroundings and gather as much information regarding what had actually happened to her as she could. To her initial confusion, she could sense that there were others around, but their minds felt... odd, almost distorted in some small way. She shook her head and backed away slowly, eyeing the ones who had joined her and her quarry; they looked like cattle, and in their nervousness and confusion, they smelt like cattle, but there was something fundamentally wrong with them. They also wielded weapons, and in such situations, even cattle could prove dangerous and so with this in mind, she decided that caution was the better part of valour. _

_Silently, she backed away, placing all her trust into the implant that she had grafted on to her forearm, just under the skin so only the activation panel was apparent. Once again, she gave thanks to the Kreshengeth'ai that had managed to capture their ancient enemy's technology and, with the help of the two prisoners they had also taken alongside a handful of the Faithful, had managed to create their own, biological version of the technology that had prevented them from succeeding against the inhabitants of the Precursor city since their fresh Awakening. As her erstwhile prey sat up and introduced herself to the newcomers, she felt a small flame of satisfaction kindle deep within her breast; for all she looked like these others, they did not trust the human, and that could be used to her advantage, Maybe they were the Faithful of another Hive, their imprinting the reason why their minds felt to familiar and yet so strange. That they then confessed to not knowing the Sidhe came as a surprise; instead, they spoke of the 'Wraith' – at that, she had to hold in a hiss. It was not a name that was known to her, but it did speak of possible competition… and competition was something she couldn't afford to deal with at the moment. _

_When the group broke into two, she decided to follow the newcomers to see if she could glean any information as to her whereabouts, but they seemingly spoke in code; a particularly rapid back and forth between the two males left her frowning, as did the mention of places and people she had never heard of before. After a while, the small group dispersed: the female then went to talk to her quarry whilst the largest of the male humans joined the dark-haired one as the smaller one scuttled over to check his equipment. Suddenly, the taller human strode up to her prey and, without saying a word, pulled his weapon and shot her square in the chest. This was a sudden surprise, and one that could mean one of two things; either they were Faithful, or they were total renegades that had otherwise escaped the Sidhe. _

_Either way, they warranted close surveillance…_

----------

The room was actually quite big; the cage-like structure that dominated its centre wasn't so, however. The bars of the enclosure looked like they had been constructed from some kind of mineral and ran horizontally around its circumference; Jocelyn knew better than to test them for any weaknesses, though. Part of that was due to the shock they could deliver to anyone trying to escape, but it was mainly due to the fact that she knew that it was just utterly futile to try – they were so close in construction to Lemuria's that she knew exactly how they worked and therefore that escaping simply wasn't going to be an option.

Trying to make herself as comfortable as she possibly could upon the hard floor she had been unceremoniously tossed onto, the colonel rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers and thought back to the events of the last few hours, trying desperately to think through the fug of an incoming headache.

A lot had happened; there could be no mistake about that. She wasn't sure whether the biggest shock had been the fact that she was still alive, or the discovery that she was not the only Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard present at that time. When she had finally awoken after being stunned (she reminded herself that she really should 'thank' the one that had done that to her - her money was on the big guy), she had found herself securely bound and blindfolded in what felt – and smelt – like a Gate Hopper. She had tried to ask where she was, but any questions had been met with a stony silence, or in one case, a solitary grunt. Thankfully, it had been a short journey and so although her hands had felt tingly and slightly disjointed from the plastic straps that tightly encircled her wrists, they hadn't cut off all feeling entirely. As soon as the Hopper was powered down, a gruff, deep voice had commanded her to stand and had then manhandled her around; fearing the worst, she had closed her eyes at that point, determined to take everything they could throw at her with nary a squeak, but, much to her surprise (and relief), rather than a beating, they freed her hands and had guided her off the Hopper with gentler hands than she had been expecting.

They hadn't removed her blindfold until she had been led down to the brig; she had tried to memorise the amount of footsteps she had taken and the directions they had taken her, but as soon as they entered an elevator, she knew it was useless – the all-too familiar tingle that told her they were Precursor-designed transporter modules, and so she could quite literally be anywhere. However, it had been during this walk that she had learned her captor was another Sheppard, so it hadn't all been a waste; a man deferring to him had called him by his rank and name (she guess he was military by his clipped tones), and by the way the hand upon her upper arm had tightened involuntarily, she guessed that her captors hadn't quite wanted her to know that little bit of information quite yet, and by the subsequent slow release of a long-held breath whilst they walked, she also deduced that her presence here made them all feel just ever so slightly nervous. Smiling slightly, she had therefore squirreled that particular nut away for scrutiny later – whoever these people were, they knew about as much about the situation as she did.

Good.

Still, it had galled her when her blindfold had eventually been removed and she had found herself in what amounted to a prison cell, with a grave Alternative Sheppard working the Precursor designed keypad and the giant with the dreadlocks (whom Jocelyn could only think of as 'the Rottweiler') pointing his handgun at her, smirking faintly. She had tried to engage them in conversation, but they obviously had their orders, and so she had been left alone in her cell to await whatever fate they decided she deserved.

It didn't entirely fill her with confidence.

------------------

"Run that by me again?"

Dr. Elizabeth Weir was used to her premier team coming back with strange and fanciful tales of their exploits, but this one truly had to take the biscuit, as one of her British friends would have said. She sat at her desk, her elbows upon the table, her fingers steepled in front of her face as she regarded her Commander of Military Operations with a measured gaze, inviting him to answer her. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders.

"So you expect me to believe that you were running simple diagnostic procedures upon a piece of newly discovered Ancient technology and she just… appeared. Out of thin air?"

"Well… not quite thin air," Sheppard conceded carefully. "It got activated." He held up a hand when he saw Elizabeth's lips begin to purse. "Not by us, I hasten to add; we had nothing to do with that. In fact, we were discussing things when it activated by itself."

"All by itself?" asked Elizabeth, raising one eyebrow a little sceptically.

"In this case: yes," John answered defensively. "I know that usually these things have Rodney McKay written all over them, but in this case, it wasn't his fault. None of us were anywhere near the terminal when the machine activated; thirty seconds later, and there she was, there on the ground."

Elizabeth sat back in her chair, folded her arms over her chest and paused for a moment, wondering how on earth she was going to construct her next question. In the end, she settled for simply being blunt.

"And so… what? She's you?"

John shrugged again. "All signs point to 'yes'…"

"So, we're dealing with some kind of alternative reality situation?"

"Looks like it."

At that, Elizabeth couldn't help but smile.

"You know, I never thought I'd say anything like that before joining this expedition…"

John nodded in agreement. "Tell me about it."

Elizabeth paused again. "What are we going to do with her?"

"We've locked her up for the time being… I guess at some point we could do the same for her that we do for all unexpected visitors if need be; assign a couple of Marines to tag her and make sure she doesn't get into any trouble."

"That's not quite what I meant, John." Elizabeth looked grave. "What if we can't get her back to her own… reality?" She then closed her eyes briefly, trying to find the words she needed to voice her other main concern. "Or what if she's… not what you think she is?"

"Maybe she's a Wraith plant? Yeah, that crossed my mind too."

"And?"

"I don't know… if she is a Wraith plant, then she's a damn good actress. And why make up all that crap; calling Ancients 'Precursors', the Wraith 'Sidhe' and Atlantis 'Lemuria'? It doesn't make sense if she's a plant.

"Agreed. But that doesn't solve our problem, does it?"

"Well, as far as I see it, we have two choices. We keep her locked up until Rodney's finished gleaning as much as he can from that melted lump of plastic and metal he still insists on calling his laptop, or we let her go with the proviso she stays under armed guard until Rodney's finished and we can come to some kind of agreement as to where to go next. Your call."

Dr. Weir leant forward in her chair again and briefly rubbed her eyes with her fingertips wearily; this was the part of the job that she could sometimes do without…

"We can't risk anything." she sighed eventually. "For the mean time, let's leave her where she is. If in the unlikely event she is a Wraith plant, at least she can't do any damage there. Once Rodney has finished his preliminary tests, we can review our situation."

At that, Sheppard just nodded. Straight away, Elizabeth recognised that his manner was a little distracted.

"Are you all right, John?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, fine." Sheppard forced a smile that did not reach his eyes as he looked everywhere around the room but at her.

"No… I know that look. What's wrong?"

For a moment, it looked as if he was going to play his feelings close to his chest and not let her in, but it passed when his gaze locked with hers.

"It's just… it feels weird," he confided eventually. "Having another me around is weird enough, but a female me…"

Smothering a smile, Elizabeth quirked an eyebrow at him.

"You're having problems with seeing yourself in feminine form? John Sheppard, I never had you down as a misogynist…"

"No! No, not that…" John raised a hand to punctuate his point. "It's just…" he shook his head, a wry grin touching his lips. "I can't explain it. It just feels odd, that's all, seeing me as a pretty girl…"

"You think she's pretty?" Elizabeth pursed her lips, trying not to smile.

"Well, obviously no, not in that way…" John replied quickly, unconsciously rubbing the back of his neck. "But, you know…"

"No, John, I don't know." It hurt to keep a straight face, but Elizabeth deemed it worth it, just to see the normally unflappable Lieutenant Colonel squirm.

Looking hunted, John glanced back up at her just at the right time to see her lips twitch; a sure sign that someone was trying not to laugh in the John Sheppard Book of How to Read People.

"You think this is funny, don't you?"

"No! No, not at all!" a grin broke across Elizabeth's face. "Okay, maybe a bit. It's going to be interesting to see exactly how much like you she really is, that's all."

Sheppard have Weir a shrewd, suspicious look. "And exactly _what_ do you mean by that?"

"Absolutely nothing at all," Elizabeth countered, her face the picture of innocence. Seeing a small but definitely wounded look flit across his face, she couldn't help but smile again before glancing up at the clock. "As much as I would love to sit and chat all day, we simply don't have that luxury; time's ticking; I think it's high time I introduced myself to Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard Mark 2, don't you?"

-----------------

_Maybe I should have mentioned the Sidhe… but what would I have said? "Hey, guys – sorry about this, but there's a chance a Sidhe hitchhiked her way over here with me, but I can't be sure because my mind was shot to ribbons upon first arriving here, and so I'm not sure whether she was lost in transfer or not…" Yeah, that would be just swell, wouldn't it?_

Jocelyn Sheppard was now staring moodily at the mineral bars of the cell, making shapes up out of the veins and slight cracks that wove over their surface. It was something she had done when she was a kid to combat boredom; the rather tasteless wallpaper her parents had in their living room had been a firm favourite for this activity, and once she had managed to construct an entire jungle scene within the confines of her mind upon one particularly boring rainy afternoon, but now her skill was muted, her imagination stifled by her current predicament and the worry that came with it.

She missed Lemuria, of that she was certain. Although she hadn't been away for long, and she had been separated from her team for longer periods of time than this and under much more perilous situations, something told her that this time things were different, and it left her with a horrible, sneaking suspicion that she would never walk her corridors again.

Shifting her weight slightly, Jocelyn frowned as her stomach rumbled, reminding her that it had to be around dinnertime. If that was true, then she had been locked up for barely a couple of hours.

It felt longer.

Sighing in sheer frustration, she propped herself up in one corner, her hands interlaced behind her head, and stared at the ceiling. For a brief moment, she wondered if the others were okay and whether they had figured out that she had gone, but she quickly put a stop to that particular chain of thought as she felt a slight lump rise in her throat. Of course they were fine: all three of them were probably back on Lemuria as of that second, reporting to Elliot. They were all capable of looking after themselves – even Robert, when push came to shove. With a sigh, she re-directed her thoughts back to the Sidhe; as much as she hated wasting time on them on principle, at least the mere thought of them didn't turn her into emotional wreck.

In all truthfulness, he didn't know whether she should mention the Sidhe at all. On one hand, if the Sidhe had transferred with her, she had an obligation to tell them… but then they might then wonder why she hadn't told them before. She knew she would. On the other hand, the pressure she had felt on her chest had been fleeting and might have simply been an artefact of the bizarre method of travel; it might not have been a Sidhe at all. Jocelyn chewed her bottom lip as she mulled through her options: to tell or not to tell?

The sound of the outer door to her cell opening brought her out of her contemplations with a simple decision that if it came up in conversation, she would deal with it, but if it didn't, she wasn't going to offer the information up for free. Sitting up quickly, Jocelyn regarded the people who entered the room with carefully calculated nonchalance: the one they called Sheppard, the Rottweiler and a tall, sophisticated woman who – rather unsurprisingly, considering everything – bore a strong resemblance to Dr. Elliot Weir all entered the room, with two marines flanking them by the door.

For a moment, she felt rather flattered that they considered her this potentially dangerous.

The would-be female Elliot was the first to step into her cell once the familiar, barely visible forcefield had winked out of existence and the bars to one end slid back soundlessly to allow her entrance. She held her arms behind her back and had a curiously neutral look of forced calm upon her face that was so close to Elliot's that she knew immediately that this woman was playing her negotiator card for all it was worth as she stepped forwards toward her.

"Hello; my name is Dr. Elizabeth…"

"Weir, yeah, I know." It was a long shot, but Jocelyn's temper was finally getting the better of her, and for some reason she wanted to shake that placating, calm smile from the other woman's face more than anything right now. She quirked an eyebrow in a direct challenge.

"I see that you've been told of my coming to see you," Elizabeth continued smoothly, hoping that the shock she now felt wasn't showing on her face since she knew damn well that wasn't the case.

"No… it's just a good guess." Jocelyn kept her tone light. "Lieutenant Colonel Jocelyn Sheppard at your service, ma'am."

"Yes – I've been told." _It really was quite remarkable… although they weren't identical, there was definitely a strong resemblance between John and this woman,_ Elizabeth mused within the confines of her head and couldn't help but pause to study her features for a moment.

"Yeah, I know: I look like him," Jocelyn drawled, deliberately bordering on insolence as she noticed the scrutinising look that crossed Weir's face before inclining her head towards John.

"Yes… you do," Elizabeth conceded. "And that's the reason why I am here, I suppose. What is your business here?"

At that, Jocelyn just shrugged her shoulders. "You tell me. One moment I'm with my team, investigating some new Precursor technology; next moment, we're under attack from the Sidhe. I directed my team back to the Gate, but we got separated; I ended up back at the Precursor machine. A Sidhe then knocked me into the ring and poof – here I am."

"What do you think this… 'Precursor' machine does?"

Jocelyn couldn't help but notice the hesitation before Weir said 'Precursor'. "Your guess is as good as mine. I'm still hoping that somehow, this is all in my head and I'll wake up soon and be grateful that it was all just a dream after all." She allowed herself a small, decidedly evil grin. "Although I doubt that, because if it was a dream, he'd be wearing a great deal less than he is now." She gestured towards Ronon, who, much to her delight, visibly bristled at her taunt.

She watched as Elizabeth glanced towards the glowring tall man before fixing her attention back upon Jocelyn. "I see. So you really have no clue as to where you are, or why you're here?"

"Nope." Jocelyn shrugged her shoulders "All I know is that I'm not in Kansas anymore."

Elizabeth refused to be fooled. "No idea at all?"

"None."

"But you mentioned to one of the team that picked you up you guessed that this might be some kind of… alternative reality to yours."

"Did I? I don't remember that. Silly me."

"I see. This is the way you want to play it?" Weir brought her arms from behind her back and crossed them over her chest, a gesture of pure defiance. "Well, as far as I see it, we hold all the cards here. And either you tell us what you know, or you stay in here and rot."

"Well, if that's the way it has to be…" Jocelyn lifted her head and set her chin, fixing the other woman with an unblinking stare, her defiance equal to Weir's.

"It is a shame you feel that way." For a moment, Elizabeth looked genuinely contrite before her face hardened again. "You shall be treated fairly, but until you're willing to play by our rules and give us the information we want, you will have to stay here."

With that, she turned on one heel and left, with Jocelyn's male counterpart and the tall, dreadlocked man in tow, neither of them sparing her a second glance.

---------------

"Why did she say that?" Ronon asked angrily as soon as they left the cell room. "About me?"

"Don't sweat it, buddy," John grinned, patting his irascible team mate upon his shoulder. "She was just trying to get a rise out of you."

"How do you know that for sure?" the Satedan continued, his tone challenging.

"Because she's me, and that's exactly what I do when I'm cornered; I get sarcastic. It's a good diversion tactic, deflects attention from yourself. Makes the people who are interrogating focus upon themselves rather than you…"

"It's a stupid tactic." Ronon interrupted, glowering.

"… rather like you are now." John grinned easily. "Don't worry, she wasn't really imagining you in some kind of teeny leather banana hammock."

"A what?"

"Uhh, don't worry 'bout that. She was just messing with you, that's all." He then turned his attention to Elizabeth. "What do you think?"

It took Elizabeth a moment to answer.

"I don't know, to be honest. I can tell she's going to be a hard nut to crack."

"Yeah, well, if she's anything like me, she'd rather die than betray her people."

"That's what I was thinking," Elizabeth nodded in agreement. "Her reticence to actually tell us anything also makes me think that if she's anything, she's not a Wraith spy; if she was, she'd be only too ready to give us information so that we trusted her."

"… Why would a banana need a hammock?"

John ignored Ronon. "So what do we do with her?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I'm still not sure. Maybe we should sleep on it and see what morning brings?"

"… What's a banana, anyway?"

"Shut up, buddy."


End file.
